I've gone from being a user on one of the traditional big cell networks where we were paying $50+ month per phone, to the point where we've tried out several low cost mobile providers that allowed us to cut our bills to between $10-20/month.

While some of those providers have given us good service, none of them has had a completely free option.

I signed up for service with FreedomPop when they first launched, but at the time the service was still in beta, and they only had one phone available. While it worked, it had hiccups.

MY LATEST VIDEOS

This month FreedomPop asked me to take another look at their service, and sent me a nice Samsung Galaxy S5 to make that possible. Here's my second look at the service and an updated review of FreedomPop.

FreedomPop Cell Service

If you're unfamiliar with FreedomPop they are billed as the “100% free mobile phone and Internet service”. They have no contracts, no commitments and you can cancel at any time.

How are they able to offer free mobile internet and phone service? They are a “freemium” service provider where they offer a basic plan that has no cost, and then they offer premium plans if you decide you want more minutes or data. They also offer add-ons at a small cost that can upgrade your service experience. But the basic service can be free for as long as you want.

They are able to provide lower cost and free plans because their service is a bit different than the ordinary mobile provider. Their service uses mobile data first for making calls and texts, which means your calls are being routed via VOIP. Mobile data is typically cheaper for the provider to buy versus cell voice time, and as such they're able to pass the savings on to you.

Unboxing My FreedomPop Samsung Galaxy S5

FreedomPop was kind enough to send a phone over for me to test out their service. I requested that they send an Android phone, preferably one of their Samsung Galaxy devices. Within a couple days I had a nice Samsung Galaxy S5 phone in my hand.

Removable Li-Ion 2800 mAh battery: Stand-by up to 480 h, talk time up to 27 h, music play up to 77 h.

Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, Corning Gorilla Glass 3

When I opened the phone and plugged it in the phone booted right up and took me to the Android home screen. Once I had set the phone up the first time the phone did require some software updates, including an Android update (to upgrade to Android 6.0 Marshmallow), as well as 3 separate Samsung software updates.

While being forced to do these updates right off the bat wasn't ideal, it's part of the deal these days with constant phone updates, and wasn't a deal killer. In fact it's good to know you're getting a phone that is still being updated and getting the latest upgrades.

Once the phone was ready to go I booted up the FreedomPop app to verify what my new number would be – and made a couple of phone calls. I was on a solid Wi-Fi connection so the calls went through great – no problems.

FreedomPop also has a bring your own device (BYOD) program that means you can bring just about any CDMA Sprint certified phone to the service. To see if yours will work go to this link and then click on the “Bring Your Own Phone” link.

FreedomPop Mobile Plans

Mobile cell phone plans have been skyrocketing for a long time, with costs coming close to $100 per month for an individual line of service. According to Cowen and Co.:

The average customer of one of the Big Four cellular providers (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless) spends more than $90 per month for individual service—and the figure is $111 for iPhone owners.

With the costs for a traditional plan being so high, it's nice to see a provider that has plans that are actually affordable. Why pay more when you have plans like this:

100% FREE Plan: With the basic plan you get 200 voice minutes, 500 texts and 500MB of 4G data for no monthly cost.

$10.99/month: This plan gives you unlimited talk and texts, as well as 500MB of data.

$19.99/month: This plan gives you unlimited talk and texts, as well as 1GB of data.

$24.99/month: This plan gives you unlimited talk and texts, as well as 2GB of data.

$29.99/month: This plan gives you unlimited talk and texts, as well as 3GB of data.

$34.99/month: This plan gives you unlimited talk and texts, as well as 4GB of data.

$29.99/month: This plan gives you unlimited talk and texts, as well as unlimited data, although at reduced speeds after 2GB.

In your FreedomPop Family Plan you can have anywhere from 2-10 lines. You can stay connected for free and enjoy unlimited voice, calls and texts, plus up to FREE 1GB of shared data! There is a $5 fee per line.

You can also purchase larger data plans, suitable to your requirements starting at just $15. FreedomPop is also offering an extra bonus 50 MB of free data for each family member — the bigger the family, the more opportunities for free data.

Free Plan: This plan gives you unlimited talk and texts, as well as 1GB shared data.

$14.99/month: This plan gives you unlimited talk and texts, as well as 2GB shared data.

$34.99/month: This plan gives you unlimited talk and texts, as well as 4GB shared data.

$74.99/month: This plan gives you unlimited talk and texts, as well as 10GB shared data.

$159.99/month: This plan gives you unlimited talk and texts, as well as 25GB shared data.

I am on the $19.99/month plan that gives you unlimited talk and texts, as well as 1GB of data. Since I don't do a lot of calling and texting, I'm unlikely to need unlimited minutes and text messages, but I use a decent amount of mobile data.

In addition to the above package that I have, you an also add the following services individually onto your account if you want, although they're not required.

FreedomPop Premium Voice $3.99/month: With Premium Voice your phone will detect the quality of your data connection, and if it falls below 400kbps, it will re-route calls to Sprint's 2G voice network. You get 200 Premium Voice minutes on the free plan, and 500 minutes on unlimited plans.

Your best bet in many cases is just to add the FreedomPop Premium Plus package for $7.99 and you'll get all the most requested features.

Testing Out The FreedomPop Service

I've been using the FreedomPop phone for a few weeks now. Here's a quick look at how the service has performed for me.

Calling Quality

The calling quality is definitely better than the last time I used the service. At that time the service was still in beta and some bugs were still being worked out. At that time I would hear echos on the line, calls would break up and at times drop. This time I haven't experienced any of that, it has definitely improved. The only problem I had this time was a couple of times a call didn't connect, but on trying again it connected fine.

Premium Voice

FreedomPop now also has the Premium Voice feature available, which is great. With Premium Voice your calls are re-routed to the 2G Sprint voice network if the mobile data connection is too slow or unreliable. So instead of being routed over mobile data on a VOIP call, it goes directly to the Sprint CDMA network for a voice call.

Having this option is a big thing for some folks, especially if they're in an area where the mobile data connection isn't the best. It has definitely been helpful for me since our area still has some pockets where the mobile data connection isn't ideal. I've been able to confirm that this works well by disabling the mobile data and Wi-Fi, and calls go through crystal clear on the voice network.

Text Messaging

Text messaging worked just fine when I used it to text several people in my contact list. So far I haven't had any issues with messages being delivered, although one time a message did take longer than expected to get through. I don't know if that was on my end or the other person's end.

Mobile Data Services

The mobile data is the thing I've used the most for checking my email, streaming Amazon Music, watching some videos and using it for Google Maps navigation.

It has been very reliable so far, and the only issue I've had is when I was far out of town where the mobile data connection dropped out. I've had that same problem with other Sprint MVNOs in that area as well, so it was expected.

Improved Customer Service

One thing FreedomPop vowed to improve was their customer service as they had some growing pains in their early years. They now have a fully dedicated team of customer service agents. You can find them here if you ever have trouble:

When I've had issues with something I've had the best luck on the Support forum where people tend to respond relatively quickly.

FreedomPop Has Matured

FreedomPop has come a long way since their beta launch way back in the day when I first tried them out.

Their service, while it is still low cost, has improved by leaps and bounds. They've improved their customer service, added cell network fallback for calls, and improved the reliability of their apps. They've also added on a whole host of updated phones that you can purchase, as well as adding to the list of phones you can bring to the service.

In the past I gave a recommendation to the service while understanding there were still some bugs to be worked out. The service has matured quite a bit, however, and I would definitely recommend checking it out today.

Unreal Mobile has burst onto the scene with one of the most affordable unlimited mobile phone plans on the market, with plans starting at only…

Last Edited: 13th December 2018 The content of biblemoneymatters.com is for general information purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Visitors to biblemoneymatters.com should not act upon the content or information without first seeking appropriate professional advice. In accordance with the latest FTC guidelines, we declare that we have a financial relationship with every company mentioned on this site.

Comments

I remain on the FreedomPop free plan, however, every time I go outside I get inundated with updates to preloaded apps that I never use and I am prevented from deleting them from the phone so, to stay within my 500 MB of data, I have to stay on WiFi 100% of the time. A big nuisance that makes me carry a T-Mobile flip-phone for my cell telephone calls.

I’m not a big techi, and it doesn’t seem to service the area I live in, but does making wi-fi calls, mean I can get service, (calls, and texting) using my home wi-fi? I’ve heard about making wi-fi calls, but have never done it.

Yes, if you’re on WiFi it can make VOIP calls over your WiFi connection, and texting as well I believe. As long as you have a mobile data connection, WiFi or cell network connection if you’re paying for premium voice – you should be good to go.

I’ve placed four separate orders with FreedomPop with the only email address I use. Two were for SIM cards and two were for cellphones. Within the past week, I’ve tried to order another SIM card. I was unable to do so online and there was no error message to explain why. When I tried to call their contact phone, I was disconnected each time without getting to speak to a human. I emailed them and was finally advised that I could not place an order because my email had already been used with them. In other words, my only option, if I want to order another SIM card from them, is to use a different email. I have previously recommended this company to everyone I know. I now regret having done that. Their support is as bad as any I’ve ever seen and their ordering policy is ridiculous!

Freedompop has a new “Family” plan. Minimum of 2 phones. I used a groupon link and got 2 Moto E2 phones for $24.99 each. I was automatically set up on the 4GB shared plan, but downgraded to the free shared 1GB plan, once the phones arrived. NOTE: The service on each phone within the family plan, is $5.00 monthly. Unlimited talk, Unlimited text, Voicemail , 500mb data, AND Premium Voice are included. Adding the free shared data, to the individual data averages 1000 MB per phone if you have 2 phones on the plan. The free plan does not double the shared minutes if you have 4 phones, so 2 is the best option. The family plan has the email address, so each phone can’t get friends, but the central account can. 10 friends means 500mb additional shared data. If you have additional emails, you can have additional family plans for more shared data. If your family hardly uses mobile data, it would be simpler to put all phones (up to 10) on the same family plan.
You can go into the settings online, and turn off admin capabilities for the FP app. This way, if you give a phone to your child, he/she can’t edit the FP account settings in order to increase their mobile data. Remember to disable “auto top up”. I manually set each phone to turn off cell data at 500mb (even though more data is available)
FP Services without Premium Voice were spotty in weak signal areas. When Premium kicked in, it was as good as my standard carrier. If the quality remains, I’m going to port my primary number over, and cancel my other carrier. Voice quality should be the most important factor, for someone’s primary phone service carrier.

Glad it’s worked out well for you. I’ve been using my FreedomPop phone as my main phone recently and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the great call quality I’ve gotten. Like you, I hope it remains that way.

First, if you pre-pay in advance, FreedomPop has disgustingly low costs for those who use a little more data. $10 a month for 2GB to $20 a month for 10GB of data. (That’s the type of stuff I’m looking at.) http://www.freedompop.com/sim/plans_bundle_full

Since the one critique I found online was that they can ding people hard with the using more data than their plan offers, I’d probably over-estimate per month usage a bit if prepaying a year.

Second, their free plan has gone down to 200MB a month which is insufficient for many.

Third, since they use VOIP, does it drop calls switching WiFi routers on the same network? My office is big enough to need multiple routers but they are all set to the same WiFi network managed by the server. However, a few apps have dropped downloads, etc while moving from one part to the other when my phone switched routers.

Nice!
I was hoping this would extend the life of my S5. It worked great for the first 3 1/2 weeks. Now it acts the same as my 4 year old OEM battery. Doesn’t last more than 4 hour and gets super hot through the day.
Thank you!

The information contained in BibleMoneyMatters.com is for general information or entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional financial advice. Please contact an independent financial professional for advice regarding your specific situation.

In accordance with FTC guidelines, we state that we have a financial relationship with some of the companies mentioned in this website. This may include receiving access to free products and services for product and service reviews and giveaways.

Any references to third party products, rates, or websites are subject to change without notice. We do our best to maintain current information, but due to the rapidly changing environment, some information may have changed since it was published. Please do the appropriate research before participating in any third party offers.